Stories and thoughts: past, present and future

Early Days

It’s just taken me over an hour to complete the introduction to my Blog and I’m now sitting thinking “Have I really got to do this?” Well, of course, the answer is “No” but I do like a challenge!

There’s a song in “The Sound of Music” that goes: “Let’s start at the very beginning/A very good place to start.” Having said that, the very beginning is over 70 years ago and a bit foggy now! Let’s move on to 1953, shall we?

I was 11 years old and just starting at Grammar School. This was one big shock for me as, during my early junior school days (8-11 in U.K.) I was told how clever I was, and that I would go on to do great things, etc, etc. Imagine my horror to discover that all the other girls were also very clever and had been told exactly the same! It was downhill from thereon in!

During my time at senior school I enjoyed English and languages and hated science and maths. My domestic science teacher gave up on me and P.E. was a nightmare. Who said “schooldays are the happiest days of your life”? Don‘t believe it. I couldn’t wait to leave – which in those days was at age 15 if you didn’t want to take G.C.E.s and “get on”. So I left, with my parents’ blessing and started work in a small sweet shop. (Hence my love of all things chocolaty).

And then we moved house so my days in the shop were over. What next?

Life in the 50s was so unlike today. Girls left school, got a job in a shop or office, got married, had babies, stayed home and cleaned house . That was it! And so I got on the ladder and started evening classes to learn to type, write shorthand and improve my English. Following this I started working in an office – I was on my way to becoming one of the millions of “conformers”